iBooks for iPhone

As you may already know, the iBooks application for the iPhone was included in Apple’s iOS4 update last month. Also available on the iPad and iPhone 4, iBooks allows you to purchase and read e-books, right from the application.

When you first launch iBooks for the iPhone, you’ll see your library, which is where your purchased and downloaded books will be. Also, there are two buttons next to the “iBooks” title, which are “Edit” and “Store”. When you first launch iBooks, you should see a Winnie The Pooh book, which came with the application.

If you click on the “Edit” button, you should be able to arrange and edit your books, similar to how you’d arrange and edit icons on your iPhone’s homescreen. To move a book, you simply tap and drag the book to a new location. If you would like to delete a book, you just have to click on the “X” icon, at the top left of the book that you would like to delete and then confirming that you would actually like to delete that book.

The “Store” button, when tapped, takes you to Apple’s iBooks store, where you can purchase and download new e-books. The iBooks Store looks similar to the Apple App Store, but with a few different options. You can view featured books, books that are on the charts, browse through the top paid and top free books, as well as search for a book that you would like to read. There is also a button that will show you what books you either purchased or downloaded.

When you’re viewing your library, you can tap and drag the library screen down in order to search for books, as well as choose how books will be displayed. There are two book display options, which are thumbnail mode and list mode. Thumbnail mode will display your books in the “book shelves” and will show the book’s cover. List mode will display your books in a list, similar to how songs are displayed in the iPod song’s library. From the list of books, you can view books by bookshelf, title, author, as well as category.

If you would like to read a book, you can do so by simply tapping on the book. Once the book opens, you will be able to do things, such as view the table of contents, adjust the contrast, change the text size, search the book, as well as put in a book mark. There is also a meter on the bottom of the page, which will show you how far along you are in a book.

Once you start reading a book, you can turn the page by simply swiping your finger in the direction that you would like to turn the page. Also, below the progress meter, you will be able to see which page you are currently on, as well as how many pages are left in the chapter.

If you tap on the text, all of the options, such as the buttons and progress meter, will disappear, so you can just see the text and page number. If you double tap on the text, you can look up text in the dictionary, highlight text, create a note, as well as search the book for the highlighted text.

Also, you can choose to sync your progress and such between your devices, such as your iPhone and iPad, using iTunes.

If you would like to try using the iBooks application, you can download it for free from the Apple App Store.